Young Peterborough United defender Bobby Copping has been forced to retire through injury, as confirmed on the club’s official website.
The 19-year-old defender has been on the books with the Posh since 2019, linking up with the club following his departure from Bury.
Highly-rated by those at Peterborough United, Copping looked to be a promising talent for the future. The centre-back made one senior appearance in his time at London Road, featuring heavily for their Under-21s side.
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Now, it has been revealed that Copping has been forced into retirement following a head injury suffered in July 2020. The Peterborough prodigy made a full recovery after being hospitalised for four days but suffered the same head injury a week later.
While his playing career has come to an end, Copping will remain with the League One side. The youngster has taken up a business operations role within the club’s youth academy.
Speaking upon the announcement, Copping opened up on the ‘heart-breaking’ decision to retire. He said:
“Over the last few months, I have been doing all I can to recover whilst having conversations with a specialist who had suggested I try a medication to see if that would stop the injury from re-occurring.
“Unfortunately, this didn’t work, so that left few options open to me. I have had various conversations with the club and the specialist and we all came to the same conclusion that for my long-term health and to prevent further damage, retirement from football completely was the obvious decision to make.
“That has been backed up by the fact I still have problems on a day to day basis because of the injury.
“This decision was extremely heart-breaking to make and not just for me, but also for my family who have invested so much into my football journey. Words cannot describe how truly gutted that I am.”
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With a new career path beginning, Copping will be looking to continue his recovery and help Posh progress off the pitch.
The League One club are pursuing a Category 2 academy status, with academy manager Kieran Scarff saying Copping’s new position will see him play a “very important role”.
